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Abstract

Studies have shown that though there is a recent push to include computational thinking and coding in elementary schools, many elementary school teachers have no background in the subject and would require training to effectively teach computational thinking to their students. In this thesis, the development of a framework to train elementary school teachers and students in computational thinking is presented. It is based on a framework for engineering education, and modifies that framework to design and implement creative, cross-curricular activities to teach computational thinking and engineering concepts for students in grades K-6. The activities are also used in a professional development workshop to train teachers in these skills. These activities have positive impacts on perceptions of computational thinking for both elementary school teachers and their students, as evaluated by surveys and interview responses. As well, teachers felt more confident in their ability to implement similar activities in their classrooms.